Forum Help

If you want to ask about changing your username, have login problems, have password problems or a technical issue please email forumteam@moneysavingexpert.com

Posting help:

If you want to ask why a word can't be typed, your signature's been changed, or a post has been deleted see the Forum Rules. If you don't find the answer you can ask forumteam@moneysavingexpert.com though due to volumes we can't guarantee replies.

local shop installed anpr cameras on poles to dish tickets out , they didn't get planning permission and they break rules , council has asked them to retro apply for permission , they haven't, enforcement action to follow

You need planning consent for the poles and cameras ... this can be granted retrospectively.

You also need advertising consent for signage ... not having it is a criminal offence and consent cannot be granted retrospectively. Therefore any tickets issued prior to consent being granted are unenforceable as you cannot profit from an illegal act.

Diary of a madman
Walk the line again today
Entries of confusion
Dear diary, I'm here to stay

But a shop in its own right can!!!8217;t dish out parking tickets on the back of ANPR cameras. There must have been a private parking company involved.

We cannot provide you with a silver bullet to get you out of this. You have to be in for the long run, and need to involve yourself in research and work for you to get rid of this. It is not simple. We will help, but can't do it for you.

Give a man a fish, and you feed him for a day; show him how to catch fish, and you feed him for a lifetime.

It!!!8217;s interesting as to whose responsibility it is to apply for the permission, the shop or the PPC.

Looks like the council is going for the contract principal (the shop) which is good, because the PPC should have warned them that they needed to get this permission (very few of them do, as it just holds up being able to slap out tickets). Going after the shop is likely to pee them off and that might well cause them to pass on grief to the PPC.

We cannot provide you with a silver bullet to get you out of this. You have to be in for the long run, and need to involve yourself in research and work for you to get rid of this. It is not simple. We will help, but can't do it for you.

Give a man a fish, and you feed him for a day; show him how to catch fish, and you feed him for a lifetime.

Sorry don!!!8217;t do PMs. There!!!8217;s nothing to hide, not sure how naming the PPC would make any difference?

We cannot provide you with a silver bullet to get you out of this. You have to be in for the long run, and need to involve yourself in research and work for you to get rid of this. It is not simple. We will help, but can't do it for you.

Give a man a fish, and you feed him for a day; show him how to catch fish, and you feed him for a lifetime.

There is no problem with telling us the name of the parking scammers. In any case, their name is in the public domain because they are on the signs.
It is important for us to know what happens with regard to this sort of thing because it can be brought up in other cases.
It's always good to be able to say in a complaint or appeal that, this council clobbered that PPC.
It's a bit like court cases. The result may not be case law, but they may be persuasive to another judge.

Hopefully the shop gets a caning from the council and they in turn vent their wrath on Smart Parking.

If you get any feedback on how this progresses, please do keep us updated on this thread. We can capitalise on this.

Thanks.

We cannot provide you with a silver bullet to get you out of this. You have to be in for the long run, and need to involve yourself in research and work for you to get rid of this. It is not simple. We will help, but can't do it for you.

Give a man a fish, and you feed him for a day; show him how to catch fish, and you feed him for a lifetime.

I suspect smart are laughing all the way to the bank , they have fulfilled there contact , however its the shop owner than cannot allow them to continue , so the shopkeeper will have to buy his way out

I suspect smart are laughing all the way to the bank , they have fulfilled there contact , however its the shop owner than cannot allow them to continue , so the shopkeeper will have to buy his way out

Two very apposite comments made by the public. The f!rst from ‘The Rookie’ (presumably our PePiPoo regular?).

That's what happens when you jump out the frying pan into the fire!
Just some basic research would have told him what these companies are like to deal with, not much sympathy for a businessman who exposes his customers like this due to his own negligence. Be sure Smart, having lost the contract, will go all the way with the other customers.

And

If a pub owner is having problems on this scale imagine what must be happening to customers of supermarkets and retails parks. These parking cowboys are interested only in one thing...fleecing as many people as they can. This guy only has himself to blame for not doing his homework and getting himself involved with these cowboys but hopefully other small business owners will learn from his mistake.

The more such cases, the more a prospective PPC employer will think very hard about the potential damage to his/her business!

We cannot provide you with a silver bullet to get you out of this. You have to be in for the long run, and need to involve yourself in research and work for you to get rid of this. It is not simple. We will help, but can't do it for you.

Give a man a fish, and you feed him for a day; show him how to catch fish, and you feed him for a lifetime.

I have spoken to the Compliance and Enforcement Team Leader who has confirmed that no enforcement action will be taken at the present time although the Company have been advised that the works require Planning Permission and they should submit a retrospective application. The Council has no powers to compel them to submit an application, enforcement action can only be taken if it can be demonstrated that significant harm is being caused as a result of the unauthorised works.

As already mentioned, retrospective applications can be made for planning permission, but NOT for advertising consent. The scammers shouldn't be allowed to backdate the application to decriminalise a criminal offence.

I wonder if it would be illegal to remove signs installed illegally. I'm sure it wouldn't be illegal to cover them up.

How this site works

We think it's important you understand the strengths and limitations of the site. We're a journalistic website and aim to provide the best MoneySaving guides, tips, tools and techniques, but can't guarantee to be perfect, so do note you use the information at your own risk and we can't accept liability if things go wrong.

This info does not constitute financial advice, always do your own research on top to ensure it's right for your specific circumstances and remember we focus on rates not service.

Do note, while we always aim to give you accurate product info at the point of publication, unfortunately price and terms of products and deals can always be changed by the provider afterwards, so double check first.

We don't as a general policy investigate the solvency of companies mentioned (how likely they are to go bust), but there is a risk any company can struggle and it's rarely made public until it's too late (see the Section 75 guide for protection tips).

We often link to other websites, but we can't be responsible for their content.

Always remember anyone can post on the MSE forums, so it can be very different from our opinion.

MoneySavingExpert.com is part of the MoneySupermarket Group, but is entirely editorially independent. Its stance of putting consumers first is protected and enshrined in the legally-binding MSE Editorial Code.